Redevelopment of a historically sensitive site next to Grade I listed Queens Mill Museum and Visitor Centre.  Local natural stone was used to create a contextual yet contemporary aesthetic.

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Consisting of sixty homes, the brownfield site is located in Briercliffe between the Grade 2 listed buildings of St James Church and Queens Mill at an altitude of between 206m and 216m above sea level.  The forty-eight houses, twelve apartments and four bungalows of which forty-six are social housing units and fourteen for sale embrace the whole of society.

Tenure blind, designed as Lifetime Homes and to meet the Secured by Design criteria, the same high standards apply to all achieving Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes and SAP ratings of between eighty-two and eighty-four for all properties.  The homes themselves were designed to a generous space standard with incurtilage parking for all houses and good size amenity space private gardens.  The specification included high quality kitchens and bathrooms, with a kitchen /  dining room with French doors overlooking the garden.  The apartments were designed for people over fifty-five years old and many of the residents have relocated for a nearby older sheltered accommodation block.  The apartments have low access showers for accessibility, there is a lift to all floors and a residents lounge.  The apartments have open plan living, kitchen, dining rooms with Juliet balconies and benefit from fantastic views over the surrounding countryside.  

The site sits on the edge of a conservation area and next to the Grade I listed Queens Mill Museum and Visitor Centre. A prolonged public consultation exercise took place which resulted in the twelve properties facing the historic St James’s Church and Queens Street Mill being constructed in local natural stone.  The new homes within the site were designed with a more contemporary aesthetic and oriented to take advantage of the views over the surrounding countryside.  This met the requirements of English Heritage and the local community and also gives the added advantage of increasing the projected lifespan of the buildings on a very exposed site within Pennine moorland.

Awards

The scheme was Highly Commended at the LABC Excellence Awards 2016.